Phoebe Plummer

Phoebe Plummer (born 26 September 2001) is a British climate activist. First inspired by a United Nations report published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, they^[a] joined Just Stop Oil in August 2022 and were arrested three times in their first week. An October 2022 protest in which they and Anna Holland threw tomato soup at a Vincent van Gogh painting at London's National Gallery caused worldwide outrage and £10,000 worth of damage to the frame but empowered activists to carry out similar actions. Plummer was sentenced the month after for blocking the M25 motorway. The following November, Holland and other activists caused tailbacks on multiple roads in West London with a slow march protest, for which they faced the first jury trial under section 7 of the Public Order Act 2023.

An attempt at delivering a letter to Emily Thornberry MP prompted them to be arrested again, though a subsequent attempt at delivering a letter to Wes Streeting MP was unsuccessful. Plummer was convicted of "interference with key national infrastructure" and criminal damage in May and July 2024, and was arrested for defacing departure boards at Heathrow Airport shortly after the latter. They were sentenced to three and 24 months in prison for their convictions two months later.

Plummer was born on 26 September 2001^[2] in Chelsea, London and has two older brothers.^[3] Plummer is queer and non-binary^[4] and uses singular they pronouns.^[1] They attended St Mary's School Ascot for three years^[5] before obtaining A-levels in Chemistry, Computer Studies, and Maths at Mander Portman Woodward College in Kensington.^[3] In 2019, Plummer read a United Nations report published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which declared that heating the planet by two degrees Celsius would cause the world to become much less habitable and result in millions of people suffering or dying,^[2] prompting them to go vegan, stop flying, and buy only second-hand clothes. They later began signing petitions, writing to members of parliament, and participating in marches.^[3] Plummer spent a short period reading maths and computer science at the University of Manchester but dropped out after suffering a climate-related mental health crisis^[2] and transferred to the School of Oriental & African Studies in London,^[3] where they read social anthropology.^[5]

In July 2022, after temperatures reached 40 °C (104 °F) in some parts of England,^[2] they increased the intensity of their activism.^[4] Around this time, Just Stop Oil started a campaign of rolling roadblocks and protests, which Plummer signed up for in August^[2] after feeling as though they had made all the individual lifestyle changes they could make.^[5] Within a week, they had been arrested three times, twice for disabling pumps at petrol stations. In October 2022, at a roadblock in Trafalgar Square, Plummer became friends with Anna Holland, a Just Stop Oil member originally from Newcastle upon Tyne. Holland had been struck by Plummer's confidence, outfit, and bright pink hair.^[2]

On 14 October 2022, Plummer and Holland entered London's National Gallery, threw Heinz tomato soup at the painting, glued themselves to the wall, and demanded to know whether art was worth more than life, food, and justice.^[6] The acid in the soup left permanent pale streaks on its frame, causing £10,000 worth of damage.^[7] The protest caused worldwide outrage, though some were assuaged by the fact that the painting was behind glass and was itself unharmed,^[5] and the pair received significant queerphobic abuse from social media and right-wing newspapers following the incident.^[8] Plummer and to a lesser extent Holland became the organisation's most recognised faces^[2] and their actions inspired several subsequent climate activists to throw food at paintings around the world.^[8] Both Plummer and Holland were arrested for the incident and were released on bail,^[5] following which they took the tube to a safe house still wearing their prison uniforms. Surreptitious photos of them laughing during the journey were sent to a tabloid, sparking further disgusted headlines.^[2]

Two weeks afterward, they and many other Just Stop Oil activists blocked the M25 motorway, causing four days of disruption, for which they were incarcerated at HM Prison Bronzefield. While there, they shared a cell with another Just Stop Oil member and regularly encountered other M25 protesters.^[3] In an interview with Damian Whitworth of The Times published in July 2024, Plummer stated that they had received "hot food, shelter, clean clothes, [and] warm blankets" in prison, all of which "millions in the global south" had already lost to climate change.^[5] Plummer later posed for Dazed in summer 2023, for which they had "Stop Oil" written on their chest, held a can of Heinz tomato soup, and wore a silk and cotton sweater by Loro Piana.^[3]

On 15 November 2023, Plummer, Chiara Sarti, and Daniel Hall mounted a slow march protest along Earls Court Road as part of a Just Stop Oil campaign that called for the government of the United Kingdom to stop issuing new licences for oil and gas exploitation. Their campaign caused long tailbacks which extended to Cromwell Road and the Hammersmith flyover, causing several hours of traffic disruption.^[9] For this, Plummer and Sarti were held on remand for 18 and 19 days respectively.^[10] In March 2024, Plummer was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to burgle and of sending malicious communication after attempting to deliver a letter to Emily Thornberry MP. Later that month, after attempting to deliver a letter to Wes Streeting MP, Streeting tweeted that they had not even got the right borough.^[11] In April 2024, while wearing an ankle tag, they gave an interview to Tipping Points, a podcast by a student at Imperial College London.^[3]

Plummer's November 2023 protest was litigated in front of a jury in May 2024, becoming the first such trial under section 7 of the Public Order Act 2023. Their trial, in which Plummer represented themself, took place during unusual heat in the courts, prompting the court to finish early on several days.^[9] They were convicted that month of "interference with key national infrastructure".^[9] In July 2024, Plummer and Holland were convicted by Judge Christopher Hehir of causing criminal damage for their tomato soup protest and warned to expect prison. Plummer and another activist were arrested five days afterwards for spraying paint at departure boards at Heathrow Airport.^[12]

In September 2024, in spite of an open letter coordinated by Greenpeace and Liberate Tate imploring him to do otherwise,^[13] Hehir sentenced Plummer to two years for their tomato soup protest and three months for their slow march,^[7] prompting activists from Last Generation to throw soup at the Embassy of the United Kingdom, Berlin and similar protests to take place outside the embassies of Amsterdam, Paris, and Rome.^[14] His sentence was criticised by George Monbiot^[15] and Nadya Tolokonnikova,^[16] though Celia Walden was less sympathetic.^[14]

• Phoebe Plummer on Twitter